Steve Sawyer
@stevesawyer12.bsky.social
2.5K followers 340 following 4K posts
Musician, dog-lover, recovering data analyst. “Winter is not coming. It is here. And as Antonio Gramsci once observed: ‘The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.’” – Mike Brock
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Reposted by Steve Sawyer
matthew.flux.community
A very disappointing trend in left intellectualism is how few ppl paid attention to Rene Girard's later career when he became obsessed with the Antichrist.

Peter Thiel got his ideas about this nonsense from late Girard. "Mimetic desire" was Girard's way of saying lefties were Satanic.
Reposted by Steve Sawyer
timothysnyder.bsky.social
Carole Cadwalladr was right and we’d be in a better world if more people had listened.
carolecadwalla.bsky.social
This tweet has been doing the rounds on Twitter now that Nathan Gill has pleaded guilty.

If only someone had tried to investigate UKIP & Russian interference 🧐

There’s another timeline where the Guardian supported me, doubled down on the investigation & I look 5 years younger ..
stevesawyer12.bsky.social
Yeah…so far. I’m really concerned about the Brits though. I’d hate to see them as the next to fall.
Reposted by Steve Sawyer
angrystaffer.bsky.social
It’s fantastic news that all remaining hostages have been returned.

I’m not ready to spike the football and declare victory on peace yet, though. These things can - and often do - go completely sideways.
stevesawyer12.bsky.social
This is me with our dog. He loves to steal the hand towel hanging from the oven handle, and *LOVES* getting hold of one of my hats! He *knows* both are verboten, as normally if I tell him to stop and drop something he complies, but not these items – he runs! Mischievous little jerk! 😅
weratedogs.com
This is Lucky. He assures you there's nothing to see here. And also nothing missing from the laundry basket. 13/10 (IG: luckythegoldenboy)
Reposted by Steve Sawyer
joshtpm.bsky.social
For various reasons I think this one will be longer standing but this is also 100% true.
katz.theracket.news
There were at least two ceasefires under Biden! In which more than five times as many living Israeli hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinians! Has everyone forgotten this?
coffeeindiana.bsky.social
Also, ceasefires have happened under prior Presidents! The day he gets Palestine their own country he can be told he's the most special boy deserving of a shiny prize.
Reposted by Steve Sawyer
kjephd.bsky.social
Me, a while ago: bsky.app/profile/kjep...
kjephd.bsky.social
'Democracy being on the ballot' in a two party system suggests the only way to preserve democracy is for one party to win every election, forever — or until the other one somehow rededicates itself to democracy.

Folks, as if I need to say it, that's a democracy on its deathbed
kjephd.bsky.social
Agree substantively, but it suggests something that's become clearer to me in the last few days: the absolute non-negotiability of multi-partyism as the key remedy for the US's present authoritarian slide.

There is no stable escape from where we are that doesn't break up the existing parties.
Reposted by Steve Sawyer
kjephd.bsky.social
Very importantly correct
jakemgrumbach.bsky.social
“Win every election” is not a viable strategy for preventing authoritarianism
stevesawyer12.bsky.social
I’m no political theorist, Kevin, but my understanding is that the structure of our system somehow will always devolve into a 2-party system. 🤷‍♂️

Also, looking at the UK right now, (and France…) I don’t see much better performance by multiparty systems.
stevesawyer12.bsky.social
That first one…that’s the thing that I try not to think about, because it may be true. If an opponent will *never* admit defeat, under *any* circumstances, what recourse do they leave? 😬
stevesawyer12.bsky.social
Those people have always been with us, but they were largely shunned. Now they have the power of the federal government to enact their cruelty.
stevesawyer12.bsky.social
Isn’t she just? I have gotten very critical in that if I’m 10 minutes into a podcast and I’m not learning anything I turn it off. (I can rage just fine all by myself thengew…) I always watch/read Sarah’s stuff all the way to the end. I learn *so* much!!
Reposted by Steve Sawyer
roryflynn808.bsky.social
A testament to the destructive power of American-supplied ordnance.
carolynownbey.bsky.social
If you haven’t seen it, this footage from @apnews.com is incredibly important.

The intent here seems unmistakable, in two ways: (1) just read the genocide convention, here it **absolutely** is, and (2) this level of infrastructural destruction is, no question, meant as pre-development demolition.
stevesawyer12.bsky.social
“The largest, most organized, peaceful protest movement of the Trump 2.0 Resistance is coming back this week—and Republicans are talking as if they’re prepared to unleash the might of their increasingly politicized federal law enforcement (and, perhaps, accompanying military?) on it.”
Reposted by Steve Sawyer
perrybaconjr.bsky.social
"The job of politics is actually agenda setting, both because you want to make people's lives better with public policy and also you want to agenda-set because you want people to be talking about your thing," says @anatosaurus.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2015...
Reposted by Steve Sawyer
perrybaconjr.bsky.social
"The purpose of politics is to enact an agenda to actually improve people's lives. It isn't merely to get Democrats elected for the sake of doing so. Which Democrats we elect and how we get them elected matters," says @anatosaurus.bsky.social.
newrepublic.com/article/2015...
Reposted by Steve Sawyer
perrybaconjr.bsky.social
"FDR knew there are sides. When you replace that and have no villains because you want neoliberalism and a rising tide lifts all boats, you render people susceptible to the right. Neoliberalism is the handmaiden to authoritarianism," says @anatosaurus.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2015...
stevesawyer12.bsky.social
“It’s bad when the world sees you as a bully; it’s worse when the world also sees you as weak. The man who promised to make America great again has probably ended our position of global leadership for the foreseeable future.”
stevesawyer12.bsky.social
“[I]f those are the terms on which a trade war is fought, it’s clear who is in the stronger position. China *wants* access to the U.S. market, but America *needs* Chinese rare earths and other inputs. America is going to lose this conflict.”
stevesawyer12.bsky.social
I hear ya. Not why I’m here. But there are some for whom a sizable audience is important professionally, independent of any ego issues.